A 16-year-old patient tested positive for a virulent strain of bird flu, bringing the number of Indonesians infected by the virus to 12 – seven of whom died, a health official said today.

Up to 25,000 villagers have been evacuated from the slopes of a rumbling volcano on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island despite assurances by scientists today that the mountain was calming down.

Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi may be freed from detention before October, Indonesia’s foreign minister said today.